


A Sudden Change In Sobriety And Perspective

by afteriwake



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-15
Updated: 2012-07-15
Packaged: 2017-11-10 01:24:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/460679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alcohol brings out truths in Nanao and Kyouraku's relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Sudden Change In Sobriety And Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prequel to “Unexpected New Year’s Surprises,” set five years prior, though you don't need to read it first.

“Captain,” Lisa said brusquely, coming up to Kyoraku. He had a cup of sake in his hand and was enjoying a conversation with Ikkaku and Matsumoto. It was not often the divisions let their hair down and socialized together, but the New Year’s party that the Captains threw for their subordinates allowed for camaraderie. However, there was also sometimes problems, and with the urgency in her voice, he knew Lisa had one on her mind. He excused himself from the conversation and gave her his full attention. “Lieutenant Ise is drunk.”

Kyoraku raised an eyebrow. His Nanao-chan? “ _Drunk?_ ” he asked.

“There was a bet, between her and Lieutenant Matsumoto and Kensei. It’s all his fault,” she said, looking behind her and glaring. Ever since the Vizard’s return to Soul Society there had been changes. The first had been the introduction of two new Divisions, and Kensei and Shinji taking over vacant Captain positions. The way it had affected his division was that he now had two Lieutenants, Lisa and Nanao. Captain Commander had tried to get him to demote Nanao to third seat and he had refused. But ever since, Nanao had been…different. “See for yourself.”

She stepped out of the way, and he saw Nanao with her arm around Kensei’s broad shoulders, and she appeared to be nuzzling his neck. He, on the other hand, was trying to drink sake and extricate her at the same time. Matsumoto was alternately laughing and drinking. He frowned. What had they been thinking? She didn’t drink. She had spent the last hundred years watching what boozing had done to him. “I’ll take care of it,” he said, handing his cup to her.

He headed to the table where they were sitting and tapped Kensei on his other shoulder. “I see you could use my help.”

He grunted. “She only had two cups,” he said sourly.

“Which are two cups more than she usually has,” he said, gently prying her arm off his shoulder. It was easier said than done; she had a grip on him that was hard to shake. “Nanao-chan,” he said, trying a different approach.

She blinked, then turned slowly towards her captain. “Captain!” she said happily a wide smile on her face. “I had sake. Sa-ke. Two cups!”

“I have heard,” he said with a smile. “Would you like another one?”

“Oooh, yes please,” she said.

“Why don’t we go back to the office and drink?”

“You and I in the office?” she said, a small frown joining furrowed brows.

“Yes, in the office,” he said quietly. “Then you can have _two_ cups.”

“Okay!” she said brightly. She let go of Kensei and was up faster than she expected, because she wobbled and started to fall into Matsumoto’s lap. Kyoraku had an arm around her waist quickly to steady her.

“Captain Ky-“ Matsumoto began, but he glared at her, and she had the decency to look ashamed. “Do you need any help?” she asked quietly.

“No, I can take care of this myself,” he said. “But I will be speaking to both of you about this tomorrow.” He turned to Kensei, and saw that he, too, looked ashamed. He looked at Nanao again, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled close. “Come on. To the office.”

“Okay,” she said. He began to move them away from the table, but she was stumbling as she walked. Knowing it would be a losing battle to keep her on her feet, he stopped and shifted, Picking her up instead. Without acknowledging anyone else in the room, he carried her out into the cold. Snow had fallen since the beginning of the party, and he used shunpo to take them not to the office, but to her quarters.

He was keenly aware of her warm breath on his neck, and he could hear every little thing she was whispering. Whatever else the sake had done, it made her extremely affectionate. When she placed a kiss on his neck he nearly dropped her. It had made her extremely bold, too, but he would not do anything with her or to her, not in this state. “I’m going to set you down now,” he said when he got to her door.

She blinked, and pulled her head away. He didn’t need to see the look on her face to see she was confused because he could hear it in her voice when she asked, “I thought we were going to the office.”

“I just said that because I know you know I have sake there,” he said. He opened her door and ushered her in. The room was dark, and he turned on a light quickly, as soon as he found it.

She blinked at the sudden brightness, then a slow, sensual smile formed on her face. “So, should we retire to a different place?” she said, her hands going to the front of her kimono. She pulled it slightly, revealing more of her chest, and he knew he had to stop her before she did something she’d regret.

“Nanao-chan,” he said gently, stepping towards her, He put his hands over hers and pushed the top of her uniform back to its proper place. “You need to sleep this off.”

She frowned. “That was why you brought me here?” she asked quietly.

“Yes,” he said, moving a hand to her shoulder and turning her around.

“I thought you liked me,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“I do,” he said. “I care for you very much.”

“Then why do you flirt with me, and then when I throw myself at you you reject me?” she asked, turning around quickly. Too quickly, it seemed, because she wobbled. He caught her, but as soon as she was steady she pushed at his chest and broke free. “Leave me alone.”

He stood there and looked at her for a moment. “No. You’ve never been drunk before. As far as I know, you’ve never had a drop of sake. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m _not_ okay!” she said loudly, raising her head and glaring at him. “I worked hard for my position and now I have to share it, and Captain Commander didn’t even see it, and you don’t want me, and…” Tears slipped down her cheeks. “I feel so stupid right now, and so useless. And I’m _crying_. I never cry.”

He hesitated a moment, then wrapped his arms around her. “Oh, Nanao-chan, I am so sorry,” he said, rubbing her back. She bunched her fists in his pink haori, and he could feel her tears wet his uniform. No matter her reason for drinking, he had hoped to spare her this bitter disappointment and sadness. But perhaps he could offer some consolation. “I know you worked hard. You are the only reason the division has done so well in the past few years. I can be a horrible, lazy, good-for-nothing captain. That was why I would not demote you.”

“I thought you didn’t because you cared for me,” she said, the tears slowing.

“I do.”

“Then why don’t you want me the way I want you?” she asked, looking up.

“Because I’m not sure if it is the alcohol talking or not,” he said gently, “and I don’t want you to do something you might regret in the morning.”

“I have felt this way for a long time,” she said, letting go of his haori and using a fist to wipe her eyes. “I just hide it because sometimes I think you’d be too stupid to notice.”

“And that is one of the unpleasant side effects of drunkenness: bitter truths,” he said with a smile. “Perhaps I would have been, before. But…the Winter War taught me that life is too short, too fragile. I started to think that perhaps I had not been honest with myself, and that I was, perhaps, being stupid.”

She sniffed slightly. “So what does that mean?”

“First, I should ask you a question: when was the last time you saw me drunk?”

She thought, and he could tell she was thinking hard because her brow furrowed and she shut her eyes. Then she opened them and looked at him. “Before the war?”

“And when was I flamboyantly flirty?”

“Around the same time,” she said.

“I have been changing who I am for you,” he said gently. “I felt that I was being foolish, and if I truly wanted a relationship with you then I needed to be more mature.”

She looked at him, her eyes wide. “Really?” she asked, her voice hopeful.

He chuckled. “Yes, really.”

“I miss the flamboyance,” she said quietly.

“When you are sober, I will flirt outrageously with you,” he said with a chuckle. “But you must promise me you will not get drunk again, all right?”

“All right,” she said with a small smile. Then it faltered. “I do not feel well.”

“Did you have anything to eat before you started drinking?” he asked.

“No,” she replied with a tiny shake of the head. “I wanted to, but then I saw you talking with Lisa and leaning in and I got jealous, and then there was the drinking contest and I figured why not?”

“Well, perhaps it would be best if you go to your mat and lie down,” he said gently.

“All right,” she said, turning slowly and heading to it. Gingerly she lowered herself and then laid down. He kneeled next to her and pulled the blankets up to her chin as she shut her eyes. “I am sorry I was such an embarrassment.”

“Everyone gets that way once in a while,” he said gently.

“Will you stay here until I fall asleep?” she asked, her voice quiet and slow.

“I will,” he said with a nod she could not see.

“Thank you,” she replied, a smile on her face. “And tomorrow you will flirt outrageously with me?”

“Only as long as you promise to have dinner with me,” he said, reaching over and adjusting the blankets a bit.

“I will,” she said. “Tomorrow will be better.”

“Yes, it will be,” he said. He waited for her to fall asleep, and then he got up and looked down at her. After a moment, he sat back down, moving so his back was against a wooden beam. She was going to have an awful hangover tomorrow, but he could stay a while longer to make sure she didn’t need him. After all, what type of man would he be if he left the woman he loved alone while nursing her first bout of drunkenness. A bad one, and that would go against what he wanted. And so, as he heard the countdown begin, he waited and started a new year with the woman who had taught him that it was good to grow and mature, watching her sleep away the old year. When she awoke things would be new, and he would do his very best to make sure this was her best year yet.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Unexpected New Year's Surprises](https://archiveofourown.org/works/460680) by [afteriwake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake)




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